Illegal fish trafficking by well known Montauk family

[hartattack]

https://patch-com.cdn.ampproject.org...ng-scheme-feds

2 members of the family behind Gosman's in Montauk pleaded guilty to scheme to buy illegal summer flounder and black sea bass, feds say.... a scheme to purchase illegal summer flounder and black sea bass from a local fisherman, the DOJ said.

If the illicit catch brought the company $240k in wholesale revenue, wonder how or why they arrived at a fine of only $50k. In cases like these, people caught basically stealing from everyone else whose playing by the rules should be banned permanently from fishing, equipment confiscated and auctioned off.

There's too much of this going on, would assume this is just the tip of the iceberg when there's as much money involved as there is in the fishing industry and enforcement efforts are extremely difficult. Remember Carlos Rafael did this for almost 20 years before getting caught and then only in a sting operation for money laundering. Twenty years of illicit sales and no one knew. The amount of illegal catch he distributed was off the charts.

[Captain Rich]

Bob Gosman Co. Inc. agreed to pay a criminal fine of $50,000

Sentencing hearings for the Gosmans will be set at a future date; the trial of the remaining fisherman, Christopher Winkler, has not yet been scheduled, the DOJ said.

The company has been fined, not the individuals, hopefully they get banged big time, but your right, the fines for these cases are woefully inadequate.

[shrimpman steve]

Gosman’s was a client of mine for 10 years. Right up to when I moved down to Florida.

Sad to hear.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Captain Rich

Bob Gosman Co. Inc. agreed to pay a criminal fine of $50,000

Sentencing hearings for the Gosmans will be set at a future date; the trial of the remaining fisherman, Christopher Winkler, has not yet been scheduled, the DOJ said.

The company has been fined, not the individuals, hopefully they get banged big time, but your right, the fines for these cases are woefully inadequate.

It was was worse years ago. They used to give the "Belford Pirates" a slap on the wrist for dragging the Winter Flounder in Raritan Bay. Always sad-The two most useless things in Belford are a Library and a Dentist office LOL

[Captain Rich]

Always sad-The two most useless things in Belford are a Library and a Dentist office LOL[/QUOTE]

LOL--That might be the funniest thing you ever said !

[Capt. Debbie]

Now that's funny!

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

It was was worse years ago. T.... Always sad-The two most useless things in Belford are a Library and a Dentist office LOL

Originally Posted by shrimpman steve

Gosman’s was a client of mine for 10 years. Right up to when I moved down to Florida.

Sad to hear.

Steve obviously your leaving pushed him over the edge. Any other clients you want us to know about so we can give enforcement a heads up

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

It was was worse years ago. They used to give the "Belford Pirates" a slap on the wrist for dragging the Winter Flounder in Raritan Bay. Always sad-The two most useless things in Belford are a Library and a Dentist office LOL

Capt Sal,

I remember when I was much younger fishing the rip at night with bottle plugs for bass. On two occasions, they had helicopters working with some type of marine enforcement, big flood lights on both, catching guys dragging illegally at night. It looked like a military exercise. It was so prevalent and well known, people talked about it all the time. The rare times they were caught, you'd read an article a few weeks or month later about a slap on the wrist fine.

Until law enforcement has teeth, the upside potential in multi million dollar fisheries will always outweigh the risks of getting caught and, if one of the few caught, the pathetic fines dished out. In my opinion, it should be mandatory jail time depending on the severity of the incident and confiscation of all equipment to be auctioned off to help fund more enforcement efforts.

Just to give an idea of how brazen and out of control this was and probably still is, read the article in the following link:

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/08/n...-who-fish.html

And as the article mentions which is the case more times than not, the fines favor the violators in the form of lenient penalties and as long as that continues there will be all too many who believe breaking the law is more than well worth the risk. Just ask the citizens of Waukesha Wisconsin how that works out, absolutely tragic and horrific story!